Individual Adjustment of Audio and Video Properties in Network Conferencing

ABSTRACT

Individual adjustment of audio volume and video properties in a computer network conference environment is provided. For audio adjustment, a buffer collects incoming streams; a stream decoder decodes the buffered audio streams, a gain adjustment applies a gain increase or decrease to the individual audio stream, and a mixer combines each of the individual signals together. The gain adjustment module receives input from a user interface control associated with each participant, and adjusts the volume of that participant&#39;s stream accordingly. If a requested increase in gain would cause an overflow of the signal, only a gain increase that will avoid such overflow is applied. Video properties such as brightness, contrast and saturation are also adjustable. Properties of the user&#39;s transmitted audio and video streams are also adjustable.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/976,474, filed on Sep. 30, 2007, and which is incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to audio and video conferencingover a network. In particular, the present invention is directed towardsindependent adjustment of multiple audio and video streams during anetworked conference call.

2. Description of Background Art

Conventional networking software for video and audio conferencingpermits one-way, two-way and in some cases multi-way communicationbetween participants. Because each participant may be in a differentenvironment, audio transmission characteristics may vary among them. Forexample, one participant may be talking too loudly for the receivinguser's taste; another too quietly. In such a situation, simply turningup the volume on the receiver's computer is not helpful, as it can makethose participants that are already loud even louder. Turning down thevolume has the opposite effect—those that are too quiet get even morequiet.

Similarly, video images can vary widely among participants. Differencesin video camera technology, encoding quality, and ambient conditions arejust some factors that result in disparate images. Typical videoadjustment controls allow a user to adjust brightness, contrast orsharpness, etc., either on the display screen-affecting everything thatis displayed—or within the networking application, but globally for allparticipants.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention enable the individual adjustment ofaudio volume and video properties in a computer network conferenceenvironment. With respect to audio adjustment, a system of the presentinvention includes a buffer, which collects the incoming streams from anetwork interface device; a stream decoder, which decodes the bufferedaudio streams; a gain adjustment module, which applies a gain increaseor decrease to the individual audio stream, and a mixer that combineseach of the individual signals together. The gain adjustment module inone embodiment receives input from a user interface control associatedwith each participant, and adjusts the volume of that participant'sstream accordingly. In one embodiment, the gain adjustment moduledetermines in advance whether a requested increase in gain would causean overflow of the signal, and applies only a gain increase that willavoid such overflow. In one embodiment, the transmission volume of theuser's transmitted stream is also adjustable.

With respect to video, a system of the present invention additionallyincludes a buffer for collecting incoming video streams arriving overthe network interface device; a video stream decoder, which decodes thebuffered video streams; and a video adjustment module, which applies oneor more adjustments to the video stream, such as, for example,brightness, contrast, sharpness, hue, zoom, display size or saturationadjustments. In one embodiment, the video adjustment module determinesin advance whether a requested video adjustment would cause an overflowof the signal, and applies only an increase that will avoid such anoverflow. In one embodiment, the transmission properties of the user'stransmitted video stream are also adjustable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the overall architecture of an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an environment in which participants communicate vianetwork computers according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface through which audio and videoproperties can be adjusted individually in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for independently adjustingaudio volume of participants in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for independently adjustingvideo properties of participants in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates an environment in which participants communicate vianetwork computers. Although only three computers are illustrated in FIG.1, this is merely for clarity of description. Those of skill in the artwill appreciate that a greater number of participants may be involved inthe conference. For purposes of discussion, assume that a user wishingto individually adjust volume or video image properties of participantsis using computer 102, and computers 104 and 106 are remote usersconnected to the conference as participants over the network. Assumealso that user of computer 102 is transmitting audio and video to theother participants, and that they are transmitting audio and video toeach other as well as to computer 102. Note that computers may includenot just personal computers, but also laptops, PDAs, videophones, andthe like.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a system 200 for providingindividual audio adjustment and individual video image adjustment inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. System 200includes an audio stream decoder 202, an audio buffer 204, a gainadjustment module 206, a mixer 208, a video buffer 216, a video streamdecoder 218, and an image adjustment module 220. FIG. 2 also illustratesa network interface device 212, which handles network traffic for thecomputer, a sound card 210 that provides audio output for the computer,a video card 222 that provides video output, and a user interface 214,which allows a user of the computer to interact with system 200.

Audio streams are received by computer 102 via network interface device212. Once a stream is received over the network 108, it is passed tobuffer 204. Buffer 204 collects packets of the stream as they arriveover the network. In one embodiment, the size of each packet is 40 ms,but in alternate embodiments packets may be of different size. Becausenetwork packets may arrive out of order and with varying degrees oflatency, buffering allows the packets to be reordered correctly andhelps avoid jitter caused by latency. In one embodiment, buffer 204 isof fixed size. In an alternative embodiment, buffer 204 is of variablesize. Once a threshold number of ordered packets are in the buffer, thestream is passed by the buffer 204 to stream decoder 202. Stream decoder202 decodes the stream, e.g., by uncompressing it. The decoded stream isthen passed to gain adjustment module 206.

Video streams are also received by computer 102 via network interfacedevice 212. Once a video stream is received over the network 108, it ispassed to video buffer 216. Buffer 216 collects packets of the stream asthey arrive over the network. Once a threshold number of ordered packetsare in the buffer, the stream is passed by the video buffer 216 to videostream decoder 218. Video stream decoder 218 decodes the stream, and thedecoded stream is then passed to image adjustment module 220.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface 300 for conducting a networkconference in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Inthe illustrated case, the type of network conference is avideoconference, in which there are a total of three participants—afirst 304 and second 306 remote user, and the local user viewing theuser interface. Each participant window has an associated set ofadjustments that can be made to the transmission from that participant.In particular, a volume adjustment slider 302, a brightness adjustmentslider 308, and a contrast slider 310 can be adjusted for eachparticipant in the conference. Although not illustrated in FIG. 3,additional sliders are present in various embodiments allowingadjustment of properties such as sharpness, hue, zoom, display size andsaturation. In one embodiment, the sliders are initially set in a centerposition, indicating that no adjustment will be made to the audio orvideo streams. Adjusting slider 302 to the right of center causes thevolume level of the audio stream for that participant to be increased;adjusting it to the left causes it to be decreased. In an alternativeembodiment, the slider initially starts out at the left edge of therange, and only increases to the volume level of the audio stream may bemade. In yet another alternative embodiment, the slider starts at aposition somewhere along the range that is a default selection chosen bythe user, and the user may increase or decrease the volume of theparticipant by moving the slider right or left, respectively. In asimilar fashion, brightness adjustment slider 308 can be adjusted to theright to make the image brighter, or to the left to make the imagedarker. Slider 310 can be adjusted right or left to increase or decreasecontrast, respectively. Sharpness, hue, zoom, display size andsaturation are adjustable in one embodiment in a similar manner.

Gain adjustment module 206 receives as input from user interface 214 anindication of the position of slider 302. In one embodiment, theposition of the slider is translated by gain adjustment module 206 intoa multiplier. In one embodiment, a multiplier of 1 is defined to meanthat the gain of the stream should not be adjusted, while numbers largerthan 1 indicate an increase in gain, and numbers lower than 1 indicate adecrease in gain. As will be apparent to those of skill in the art, anyappropriate scaling system may be used to indicate the desired gainchange in alternative embodiments.

If the multiplier is 1, then no gain adjustment should be made. In sucha case, the gain adjustment module 206 simply passes the stream throughto mixer 208. Alternatively, if the multiplier is less than 1, the gainmust be lowered. Gain adjustment module 206 accordingly lowers the gainof the stream to match the given multiplier. For example, if themultiplier is 0.5, then gain adjustment module 206 decreases the gain by50%.

Conversely, if the multiplier is larger than 1, then the gain should beadjusted upward. Unlike lowering the gain, however, increasing the gainruns the risk of exceeding the range of representable numbers, resultingin a number overflow with potentially undesirable results, and anoticeably unpleasant sound for the user. To handle this, gainadjustment module 206 in one embodiment employs an algorithm toanticipate and avoid an overflow by clipping the audio.

To determine when an overflow will occur, in one embodiment gainadjustment module 206 performs gain calculations in a higher numberrepresentation. In one embodiment, the gain multiplier is a floatingpoint number, i.e. the samples are integral, and the calculations aredone with either single or double precision. In general, if the gain istoo high, the calculated number will overflow its base representation.

The computed value is checked against the largest allowable samplevalue. If one unsigned byte is used, the largest allowable sample valueis 255. If two bytes are used, i.e. 16 bit audio, then the largestallowable sample value is 65535. When signed quantities are used, thenthe range is −128 to 127 and −32768 to 32767, respectively. In the caseof 8-bit (1 byte) audio, if the determined value is below −128, then itis set to −128. If the determined value is above 127, then it is set to127. For 16-bit audio (two bytes), the boundaries are −32768 and 32767.Those of skill in the art will appreciate that more bits may be used inalternative embodiments.

In one embodiment, when the gain multiplier is lowered to avoidoverflow, gain adjustment module 206 provides an indication of theactual multiplier being used to user interface 214. User interface 214in one embodiment responds by lowering the slider 302 to indicate to theuser that the volume of the stream has not been adjusted to the leveloriginally chosen by the user. Alternatively, user interface 214 leavesthe slider at maximum, preventing the user from attempting to furtherincrease the volume of the stream. In one embodiment, the stream ismonitored periodically and if the sending user's transmission volume islowered, e.g., the sender moves away from the microphone, user interface214 repositions the slider 302 to indicate that the volume can now beincreased if desired.

Once the gain of the stream has been lowered or raised, or unaltered ifappropriate, the stream is passed to mixer 208.

As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, an audio stream isreceived from each participant in the conference that is transmittingaudio to the user's computer 102. In one embodiment, system 200 treatseach stream as separate, for purposes of buffering, gain adjustment andmixing. This enables individual adjustment to the gain of each stream.As illustrated in FIG. 3, each participant window has an independentlyalterable volume slider. User interface 214 provides the output of eachslider to system 200, and gain adjustment module 206 applies amultiplier to each stream individually in order to reflect the chosenvolume received via the user interface module 214. When the variousstreams are received by mixer 208, they are mixed together and output tothe audio device 210 of the computer 102 being used by the user. In oneembodiment, mixer 208 includes a buffer to eliminate jitter.

In one embodiment, a normalization feature is provided in which gainadjustment module 206 automatically adjusts the gain applied to eachaudio signal in order to provide audio output from each participant thatis at the same relative volume. This volume can itself be adjusted viauser interface 214.

Image adjustment module 220 enables a user to adjust various imageproperties associated with each participant's video stream. In variousembodiments, brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, hue, zoom, anddisplay size properties are adjustable. In alternative embodiments, moreor fewer image properties are adjustable. As with audio adjustmentdescribed above, a user provides an indication of the desired change toan image property via user interface 214, which in turn is passed toimage adjustment module 220. A formula or multiplier is applied tovalues the selected image property to effect the change requested by theuser. In one embodiment, an image is in RGB format; alternatively thevideo can be in YUV format, or in any other suitable format known tothose of skill in the art. Each channel of the image is adjustedaccording to the multiplier or formula. In one embodiment, imageadjustment module 220 determines when an overflow would occur based on amultiplier set too high, and clips the value to avoid the condition. Forexample, if brightness is being adjusted, and each channel can have avalue between 0 and 255, an adjustment that results in a value beinglarger than 255 is detected by image adjustment module 220, and thechannel value is instead set to 255. As with audio adjustment describedabove, user interface 214 indicates in various embodiments to the userthat the adjustment has been clipped.

Additional video adjustments that may be performed include mirroring,flipping, rotating and grayscale conversion.

In mirroring, the video image of an individual participant is displayedin a horizontally reversed manner, simulating a mirror image. Imageadjustment module 220 applies a mirroring function to the image, suchthat pixels are reversed in position on a left-right basis.

In flipping, the video image of an individual participant is verticallyflipped, simulating turning the image upside down. Image adjustmentmodule 220 applies a flipping function to the image, such that pixelsare reversed in position on an up-down basis.

To rotate an individual participant's image, image adjustment module 220applies a rotating function to the image, such that pixels are relocated90 degrees from their original position in the image. In alternativeembodiments, different degrees of rotation may be applied, as will beappreciated by those of skill in the art.

Grayscale conversion removes the color from an individual participant'simage. To apply a grayscale conversion, image adjustment module 220adjusts the color saturation module for that image to a minimum value,removing the color from the image.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart that illustrates a method for individuallyadjusting audio in a network conference in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention. To illustrate the independent nature of theaudio adjustment, the flowchart shows a process flow involving twoseparate streams. Reference numbers in this description of FIG. 4correspond to each of the instances of that reference number in theFigure, e.g., 402 refers to 402 a and 402 b.

In one embodiment, system 200 allows a participant in the conference toindividually adjust his transmission volume by applying a similar gainadjustment to that described above. The user manipulates a control onthe user interface such as a slider, and the user interface 214 passesthe information to gain adjustment module 206. Gain adjustment module206 receives the multiplier from user interface 214, and applies theappropriate increase or reduction to the outbound audio stream. Thisallows the user to manipulate his transmission volume without requiringhim to change the microphone volume within the operating system'scontrol.

In one embodiment, gain adjustment is applied after the mixing togetherof the multiple streams. Although such an embodiment does not providefor individual volume adjustment, it does allow the user to manipulatethe volume of the conference participants without the need to adjust thesystem volume.

Initially, first and second audio streams are received 402. The streamsare then buffered 404 and decoded 405. Next, if 406 user interface 214indicates that the gain should be adjusted, gain adjustment module 206determines whether it should be increased or decreased. If the gain isto be increased, gain adjustment module 206 checks 408 to determinewhether the increase will cause clipping. If so, then the multiplier ischanged 410 to a level where no clipping will occur. Once this changehas been applied, if needed, the gain is increased 412. Alternatively,the gain is decreased 414 if so requested. Next, each of the incomingstreams is mixed 416 by mixer 208, and the mixed stream is sent tooutput 418. In this manner, audio levels in a network conference areadjusted individually, separately from the device's master volume.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart that illustrates a method for individuallyadjusting video properties in a network conference in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. Packets of the video stream arereceived 502 and buffered 504 in video buffer 216. Once a sufficientnumber of packets have accumulated in the video buffer 216, the packetsare then decoded 505 by video stream decoder 218. Next, anyuser-requested image adjustment 506 is applied. If 506 the adjustmentwill result in an overflow 508 condition, image adjustment module 220adjusts 510 the multiplier to avoid the overflow. The increased value isthen applied 512 to the stream, and the video is output 516. Similarly,if the image adjustment is a decrease, the decreased adjustment isapplied 514 before the video is output 516.

Note also that the described network conference may include audio only,or may include audio and video, or may include a mixture of audio-onlyparticipants and audio and video participants, and even someparticipants who are not transmitting or receiving audio. Note as wellthat user interface 214 in one embodiment allows settings for multipleparticipants to be adjusted at the same time—e.g., two sliders for twoparticipants can be adjusted simultaneously, even though each may startfrom a different level.

Furthermore, gain adjustment and image adjustments can be made by gainadjustment module 206 and image adjustment module 220 before or afterbuffering. For example, a stream can be received, buffered, decoded andadjusted, as described above. Alternatively, a stream can be received,decoded, adjusted, and then buffered; or received, decoded, buffered andthen adjusted.

In one embodiment, system 200 applies a conventional noise filteringalgorithm to eliminate noise from the audio and/or video signals priorto output. This may be undertaken automatically for all signals, or maybe configurable by the user, for example via a check box or slider inuser interface 214.

In one embodiment, gain adjustment module 206 determines a rate at whichaudio and/or video clipping occurs during a given interval. If the rateexceeds a threshold rate, the gain multiplier is lowered automaticallyto prevent additional clipping.

In one embodiment, a participant may be designated as a key participant,and the relative volume of each participant is automatically adjusted bygain adjustment module 206 such that the audio from the key participantis always louder than the audio from the other participants. Similarly,a key participant's video may be adjusted to always remain brighter thanthe other participants.

Note that although the above description assumes three or moreparticipants in an audio or video conference, the methods described foradjusting individual audio and video properties can be equally appliedto a conference in which there are only two participants.

Note also that we have used the term “videoconference” to include, atleast, conferencing that contains audio only, audio and video, or videoonly.

The present invention has been described in particular detail withrespect to a limited number of embodiments. One skilled in the art willappreciate that the invention may additionally be practiced in otherembodiments. First, the particular naming of the components,capitalization of terms, the attributes, data structures, or any otherprogramming or structural aspect is not mandatory or significant, andthe mechanisms that implement the invention or its features may havedifferent names, formats, or protocols. Further, the system may beimplemented via a combination of hardware and software, as described, orentirely in hardware elements. Also, the particular division offunctionality between the various system components described herein ismerely exemplary, and not mandatory; functions performed by a singlesystem component may instead be performed by multiple components, andfunctions performed by multiple components may instead performed by asingle component. For example, the particular functions of the gainadjustment module, image adjustment module and so forth may be providedin many or one module.

Some portions of the above description present the feature of thepresent invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations ofoperations on information. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the means used by those skilled in the art to mosteffectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in theart. These operations, while described functionally or logically, areunderstood to be implemented by computer programs. Furthermore, it hasalso proven convenient at times, to refer to these arrangements ofoperations as modules or code devices, without loss of generality.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the present discussion,it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or“determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action andprocesses of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device,that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the computer system memories or registersor other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

Certain aspects of the present invention include process steps andinstructions described herein in the form of an algorithm. It should benoted that the process steps and instructions of the present inventioncould be embodied in software, firmware or hardware, and when embodiedin software, could be downloaded to reside on and be operated fromdifferent platforms used by real time network operating systems.

The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing theoperations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for therequired purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computerselectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored inthe computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computerreadable storage medium, such as, but is not limited to, any type ofdisk including floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, DVDs,magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random accessmemories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), or any type of media suitable forstoring electronic instructions, and each coupled to a computer systembus. Furthermore, the computers referred to in the specification mayinclude a single processor or may be architectures employing multipleprocessor designs for increased computing capability.

The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently relatedto any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general-purposesystems may also be used with programs in accordance with the teachingsherein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specializedapparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structurefor a variety of these systems will appear from the description above.In addition, the present invention is not described with reference toany particular programming language. It is appreciated that a variety ofprogramming languages may be used to implement the teachings of thepresent invention as described herein, and any references to specificlanguages are provided for disclosure of enablement and best mode of thepresent invention.

The figures depict preferred embodiments of the present invention forpurposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments ofthe structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed withoutdeparting from the principles of the invention described herein.

Finally, it should be noted that the language used in the specificationhas been principally selected for readability and instructionalpurposes, and may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribethe inventive subject matter. Accordingly, the disclosure of the presentinvention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scopeof the invention.

1. A computer-implemented method for conducting a videoconferencebetween at least three participants, the method comprising: receiving afirst audio stream from a first participant, the first audio streamhaving a first gain; receiving a second audio stream from a secondparticipant, the second audio stream having a second gain; a thirdparticipant adjusting the first gain independent of the second gain; andthe third participant playing the received first and second audiostreams, the first audio stream played at the adjusted first gain, andthe second audio stream played at the second gain.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 further comprising the third participant adjusting the secondgain independent of the first gain and playing the second audio streamat the adjusted second gain.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the firstgain is adjusted via a user interface of a videoconference clientapplication.
 4. The method of claim 1 further comprising: the thirdparticipant transmitting a third audio stream; and the third participantadjusting an gain of the third audio stream independent of the firstgain and the second gain.
 5. A computer-implemented method forconducting a videoconference between at least three participants, themethod comprising: receiving a first audio stream from a firstparticipant, the first audio stream having a first gain; receiving asecond audio stream from a second participant, the second audio streamhaving a second gain; receiving an instruction to adjust the first gainby a multiplier; adjusting the first gain by the multiplier to producean adjusted first audio stream; mixing the adjusted first audio streamand the second audio stream; and outputting the mixed streams.
 6. Themethod of claim 5 wherein the instructed adjustment is a decrease ingain.
 7. The method of claim 37 further comprising: determining that theinstructed adjustment by the multiplier would cause the first audiostream to overflow; and automatically adjusting the first gain by amodified multiplier, the modified multiplier chosen to prevent the firstaudio stream from overflowing.
 8. The method of claim 5 furthercomprising: determining a frequency with which the first audio streamoverflows; responsive to the frequency exceeding a threshold level,automatically decreasing the first gain by a modified multiplier, themodified multiplier chosen to prevent the first audio stream fromoverflowing with a frequency exceeding the threshold level.
 9. Themethod of claim 5 wherein the received instruction is an instruction toautomatically adjust the first gain to provide audio output at a volumeequal to a volume associated with the gain of the second stream.
 10. Asystem for conducting a videoconference between at least threeparticipants, comprising: a stream decoder, adapted to receive a firstaudio stream from a first participant and a second audio stream from asecond participant, the first audio stream having a first gain and thesecond audio stream having a second gain; a gain adjustment module,coupled to the stream decoder, adapted to: receive an instruction toadjust the first gain by a multiplier; and adjust the first gain by themultiplier to produce an adjusted first audio stream; and a mixer,coupled to the gain adjustment module, adapted to mix the adjusted firstaudio stream and the second audio stream.
 11. The method of claim 10further comprising a sound card, coupled to the mixer, adapted toreceive and output the mixed audio streams.
 12. A computer-implementedmethod for conducting a videoconference between at least threeparticipants, the method comprising: receiving a first video stream froma first participant, the first video stream having a first imageattribute level; receiving a second video stream from a secondparticipant, the second video stream having a second image attributelevel; adjusting the first image attribute level independent of thesecond image attribute level; and playing the received first and secondvideo streams, the first video stream played at the adjusted first imageattribute level, and the second audio stream played at the second imageattribute level.
 13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the thirdparticipant adjusting the second image attribute level independent ofthe first image attribute level and playing the second video stream atthe adjusted second image attribute level.
 14. The method of claim 12wherein the first image attribute level is adjusted via a user interfaceof a videoconference client application.
 15. The method of claim 12wherein adjusting the first image attribute level further comprisesautomatically adjusting the first image attribute level to equal thesecond image attribute level.
 16. The method of claim 12 wherein thefirst image attribute level is a brightness level.
 17. The method ofclaim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is a contrast level.18. The method of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is asaturation level.
 19. The method of claim 12 wherein the first imageattribute level is a sharpness level.
 20. The method of claim 12 whereinthe first image attribute level is a hue level.
 21. The method of claim12 wherein the first image attribute level is a zoom level.
 22. Themethod of claim 12 wherein the first image attribute level is a displaysize.
 23. The method of claim 12 further comprising: the thirdparticipant transmitting a third video stream; and the third participantadjusting an image attribute level of the third video stream independentof the first image attribute level and the second image attribute level.24. The method of claim 12 further comprising: responsive to receivingan indication that one of the participants is a key participant,automatically adjusting the image attribute level of the video streamreceived from the key participant.
 25. The method of claim 24 whereinthe automatic adjustment is an increase in brightness level.
 26. Acomputer-implemented method for conducting a videoconference between atleast three participants, the method comprising: receiving a first videostream from a first participant, the first video stream having a firstimage attribute level; receiving a second video stream from a secondparticipant, the second video stream having a second video attributelevel; receiving an instruction to adjust the first image attributelevel by a multiplier; adjusting the first image attribute level by themultiplier to produce an adjusted first video stream; and outputting theadjusted first video stream and the received second video stream. 27.The method of claim 26 wherein the instructed adjustment is a decreasein the image attribute level.
 28. The method of claim 26 wherein theinstructed adjustment is an increase in the image attribute level. 29.The method of claim 28 further comprising: determining that theinstructed adjustment by the multiplier would cause the first videostream to overflow; and adjusting the first image attribute level by amodified multiplier, the modified multiplier chosen to prevent the firstvideo stream from overflowing.
 30. A system for conducting avideoconference between at least three participants, comprising: a videostream decoder, adapted to receive a first video stream from a firstparticipant and a second video stream from a second participant, thefirst video stream having a first image attribute level and the secondvideo stream having a second image attribute level; an image adjustmentmodule, coupled to the video stream decoder, adapted to: receive aninstruction to adjust the first image attribute level by a multiplier;and adjust the first image attribute level by the multiplier to producean adjusted first video stream.
 31. The method of claim 30 furthercomprising a video card, coupled to the image adjustment module, adaptedto receive and output the adjusted video stream.
 32. Acomputer-implemented method for conducting a videoconference between atleast three participants, the method comprising: receiving a first videostream from a first participant, the first video stream having a firstimage orientation; receiving a second video stream from a secondparticipant, the second video stream having a second image orientation;adjusting the first image orientation independent of the second imageorientation; and playing the received first and second video streams,the first video stream played at the adjusted first image orientation,and the second audio stream played at the second image orientation. 33.The computer-implemented method of claim 32 wherein adjusting the firstimage orientation further comprises applying a mirroring function to thefirst image.
 34. The computer-implemented method of claim 32 whereinadjusting the first image orientation further comprises applying avertical flipping function to the first image.
 35. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 32 wherein adjusting the firstimage orientation further comprises applying rotation function to thefirst image.
 36. A system for conducting a videoconference between atleast two participants, comprising: a video stream decoder, adapted toreceive a video stream from a participant, the video stream having animage attribute level; and an image adjustment module, coupled to thevideo stream decoder, adapted to: receive an instruction to adjust theimage attribute level by a multiplier; and adjust the image attributelevel by the multiplier to produce an adjusted video stream.
 37. Themethod of claim 5 wherein the instructed adjustment is an increase ingain.